Book-stitching machine.



1. R. REYNOLDS.

BOOK STITCHING MACHWE,

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, 19l6- 1 1,23 ,7 2 Patented Aug. 14,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I. l :2

2aa/ V 2c; 20 2 [2 A TTORNEY.

J. R. REYNOLDS.

BOOK STlTCHlNG MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, I916.

Patented Aug. 14,- 1917.

ZYSHEETS-QHEET 2.

INVENTOR.

' ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTQE.

JOHN R. REYNOLDS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR- TO THE SIVIYTH MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CCRPORATION OF CON- N ECTICUT.

BOOK-STITCI-IING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented A11 14:, 1917.

Application filed May 1, 1916. Serial No. 94,597.

and useful Improvement in Book-Stitching Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the thread-knot ting mechanism of a machine for automatically stitching together book signatures, of the type described in United States Letters Patent No. 378,461, February 28, 1888.

The thread-knotting mechanism of the machine of that patent has curved needles which reciprocate on the arcs of circles and draw the threads through holes punched in the folded edges of the signatures; has loopers that are fastened to a bar which is oscillated and reciprocated, for forming the loops and drawing up the threads; has loop tighteners that are mounted on a vertically reciprocating plate, for drawing up the threads and tightening the knots; and has an oscillatory take-up which provides the necessary lengths of threads and keeps them under proper tension ;which elements are so manipulated by suitable mechanisms that they cooperate to stitch together the signatures fed to them. In the prior machine the loop tighteners which engage the threads back of the needles move vertically and when passing down to perform their functions of drawing the loops and tightening the knots they enter between the two forward signatures. This is somewhat objectionable, as when the tighteners move down they are liable to pierce or tear the waste leaves that are frequently pasted onto signatures, and they are likely to mar the sheets between which they pass. Another objec tion is that with the loop tighteners passing between the signatures, in order to have the knots of uniform tightness the signatures would have to be of even thickness, but as the signatures are not always the same thickness the mechanisms had to be set for signatures of maximum thickness, consequently when the signatures were thinner than the maximum the stitching would be more or less loose.

The object of the present invention is to so shape, construct and arrange the loop tighteners of a machine of this character that the thread engaging ends will, at the proper times, reciprocate horizontally back of the needles above and parallel with the folded edges of the signatures to be stitched and thus eliminate the necessity of passing the tighteners between the sheets, and obviate the objections incident to the prior construction.

This object is attained in the embodiment of the invention illustrated by making the loop tighteners L-shaped of slightly yielding wire and mounting their shanks on a bar which is reciprocated horizontally in front of the needles in such manner that the thread engaging ends of the tighteners will reciprocate horizontally a little back of the needles and just above and parallel with the top of the folded edges of the signatures.

In the accompanying drawings only so much of the operating part of the machine is depicted as is necessary to an understanding of the improvement. Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the loop forming and tightening mechanisms at one end of the machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the plane indicated by the dotted line 22 on Fig. 1. Fig. 8 shows a plan of one end of the tightener bar with several tighteners. Fig. 4 shows on larger scale an edge view of a needle. Fig. 5 shows a side view of a needle. Fig. 6 shows a front view of a looper. Fig. 7 shows a side view of a looper. Fig. 8 shows a front view of a tightener. Fig. 9 shows a plan of a tightener. Figs. 10 to 22' are diagrammatic representations showing in elevation the various relative positions of the needles, loopers, tighteners and threads, during one cycle of the machine. Figs. 10 to 22'" are diagrammatic views looking at the backs of the signatures and showing the tracks of the threads at the various stages represented in Figs. 10 to 22.

In the machine there are a series of curved needles 1, each being fastened to the end of the book signatures 6. The loopers 7 are mounted in blocks 8 that are fastened to a shaft 9 which is reciprocated by a cam actuated lever 10 and is oscillated by a cam actuated rod 11. The thread take-up rod 12 is carried by arms 13 which are fastened to a shaft 1 1 that is rocked by a cam actuated rod 15. The hold-back fingers 16 are fastened to a plate 17 which is moved up and down by the back and forth movement of the bar 18 that is reciprocated by the cam actuated lever 19. These elements being old and operated by mechanisms well known to those familiar with this art, are not illustrated in detail.

The shanks of the l -shaped loop tighteners 20, which may be formed of wire, are clamped by screws 21 to a bar 22 which is reciprocated horizontally on the frame in front of the needles by the cam actuated lever 23, with which the tightener bar is connected by an adjustable link 24:- The bent limbs of the tighteners have shoulders 25 with points 26 projecting therefrom, for engaging and supporting the threads to be drawn up, and they reciprocate horizontally back of the plane of the needles, that is, on the side of the needles toward the signatures stitched.

The mechanisms are so timed that the needles are swung down and if not threaded, threads from above are passed through eyes near the points. The loopers at this time are way over to the left so that the adjacent needles can be easily threaded and the points of the tighteners are near and just back of the points of the needles (Fig. 10). When the needles swing forward their points carry the threads downward through one series of holes, between the middle sheets of the signature, and up through the other series of holes. As the needles pass into the first holes the loopers move toward the right (Fig. 11). lVhen the machine is stitching this carries the loops previously formed about the loopers into such positions that the points of the needles as they rise out of the holes draw the threads up through the loops. After the needles and threads get up through the loops the loopers move toward the left, then backward and upward so as to drop the loops off from their points onto the needles and around the threads that the needles have carried up. This leaves the points of the loopers back of the threads near the points of the needles (Fig. 12). As the needles start to return the loopers move forward so that their points will go between the needles and the threads and catch the threads near the points of the needles for making the next loops, and the tighteners move toward the left and draw the threads so as to pull down and shorten the loops cast off from the loopers (Fig. 13). lVhile the needles continue to return the loopers with the new loops move toward the right and draw up the threads previously pulled back by the tighteners when tightening the back loops, the tighteners at the same time moving toward the right to permit this and the loopers continuing a little farther than the tighteners to pull. the threads tight (Fig. 14). The tighteners then move to the left to further draw up the back loopsthe loopers moving to the left at the same time to allow the tighteners some slack so the pull will not break the threads (Fig. 15). The loop ers then start toward the right and the tighteners move in the same direction at the same time, so as to take up slack threads and further tighten the stitch (Fig. 16

At this time the thread take-up above starts to swing out and draw up the threads from below, and also threads from the sup-. ply for further stitching. The loopers and tighteners go together a little way toward the left so as to tighten the back loops and shorten the threads around the loopers Fig. 17). The tighteners and loopers next move toward the rightthe tighteners dropping the threads and the loopers drawing up the slack dropped by the tighteners (Fig. 18). The loopers then move to the left, (Fig. 19'), stop and make a short movement to the right to tighten still more the threads cast off from the tighteners, (Fig. 20), andthen continue to the left (Fig. 21). As the loop ers reach starting position the tighteners also move to the left to get into starting position under the threads, back of the points of the needles-the needles by this time having swung way up (Fig. 22).

The points of the tighteners merely support the threads-the pull comes on the upright shoulders of the tighteners. The point-limbs of the tighteners are of sufficient length to take up the loops and small enough to travel back and forth past the needles without hitting them, and the shanks have suliioient spring to draw the knots tight and take up all slack without putting such strain on the threads as would cause them to break. These tighteners move horizontally and parallel with the folded backs of the signatures. and being angular and hav ing shanks with some spring they afford the necessary tension for drawing tautthe stitches regardless of the thickness of the signatures, so that any variation in the thickness of the signatures makes practically no difference in the effectiveness of the machine. The ti ghteners are set to draw the loops uniformly for the thinnest signatures. and they yield sufiiciently to prevent the threads from breaking in drawing knots up on thicker signatures so that all of the signatures will be held together tightly regardless of any variation of the thickness of the signatures, and there is no danger of marring the sheets or tearing waste leaves with the tighteners.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a book-stitching machine the combination of a curved needle adapted to swing on the arc of a circle down into and up out of the folded edge of a book signature, a looper adapted to be reciprocated for drawing up the thread and oscillated for forming and casting off a loop, and a tightener adapted to be reciprocated parallel with and entirely above the folded edge of the book signature for drawing up the slack of the thread and tightening the knot.

2. In a book-stitching machine the combination of a curved needle adapted to swing on the arc of a circle down into and up out of the folded edge of abook signature, a looper adapted to be reciprocated for carrying a loop into position to .receive the point of the needle as it comes up out of the book signature and for drawing up the thread, and to be oscillated for forming and casting off a loop, and a tightener adapted to be reciprocated parallel with and entirely above the folded edge of the book signature for drawing up the slack of the thread and tightening the knot.

In a book-stitching machine the combination of a curved needle adapted to swing on the arc of a circle down into and up out of the folded edge of a book signature, a looper adapted to be reciprocated for drawing up the thread and oscillated for forming and casting off a loop,'and an angular tightener adapted to be reciprocated parallel with and entirely above the folded edge of the book signature for drawing up the slack of the thread and tightening the knot.

4. In a book-stitching machine the combination of a. curved needle adapted to swing on the arc of a circle down into and up out of the folded edge of a book signature, a

looper adapted to be reciprocated for drawing up the thread and oscillated for forming and casting off a loop, and a tightener with a. yielding shank adapted to be reciprocated parallel with and entirely above the folded edge of the book signature for drawing up the slack of the thread and tightening the knot.

5. In a book-stitching machine the combination of a curved needle adapted to swing on the arc of a circle down into and up out of the folded edge of a book signature, a looper adapted to be reciprocated for drawing up the thread and oscillated for form- 1 ing and casting off a loop, and an L-shaped tightener with its shank supported in front of the needle and its tightening limb adapted to be reciprocated back of the needle parallel with and entirely above the folded edge of the book signature for drawing up the slack of the thread and tightening the knot.

6. In a book-stitching machine the combination of a curved needle adapted to swing on the arc of a circle down into and up out of the folded edge of a book signature, a. looper adapted to be reciprocated for drawing up the thread and to be oscillated for forming and casting off a loop, and an L- shaped tightener with a spring shank supported in front of the needle and its tightening limb adapted to be reciprocated back of the needle parallel with and above the folded edge of the book signature for drawing up the slack of the thread and tightening the knot.

7. In a book-stitching machine the combination with a reciprocatory needle and an oscillatory and reciprocatory looper, of a horizontally disposed thread tightenerwitha thread engaging shoulder movable horizontally back and forth behind the needle.

8. In a book-stitching machine the combination with a reciprocatory needle and an oscillatory and reciprocatory looper, of a horizontally disposed L-shaped tightener with the tightening limb movable horizontally back and forth behind the needle.

9. In a book-stitching machine the combination of a curved reciprocatory needle, a hooked oscillatory and reciprocatory looper, and a horizontally disposed L-shaped tightener with its tightening limb movable horizontally back and forth behind the needle.

10. A thread tightener for a book-stitching machine having a yielding shank with a tightening limb extending at an angle therewith, said tightening limb having a thread engaging shoulder and a thread supporting point.

11. In a book stitching machine the combination with a reciprocatory needle and an oscillatory and reciprocatory looper, of a thread tightener supported in front of the needle and having its thread engaging end movable horizontally back and forth behind the needle.

12. In a book stitching machine the combination with a reciprocatory needle and an oscillatory and reciprocatory looper, of an L-shaped tightener supported in front of the needle and having its tightening limb movable horizontally back and forth behind the needle.

13. In a book stitching machine the combination of a curved reciprocatory needle, a hooked oscillatory and reciprocatory looper, and an L-shaped tightener supported in front of the needle and having its tightening limb movable horizontally back and forth behind the needle.

14. In a book stitching machine the combination of a curved reciprocatory needle,

, to be reciprocated horizontally behind the needle.

15. A thread tightener for a book stitching machine having a spring shank and a tightening limb extending at substantially right angles with said spring shank, said 10 tightening limb having a thread engaging shoulder and a thread supporting point.

JOHN R. REYNOLDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addzgessing the Qom xni s sioner 9; Patents, Washington, D. G. 

